His Embarrassment
by NoteEmmy
Summary: Mokuba catches his older brother watching something terrible. He asks the King of Games for help. What Atem finds... might be worse than they all expected.


It had to have been the fifth time in that month alone. A few months earlier there had been secluded incidents. Now this was happening more often and Mokuba wasn't sure what to do. He'd entered the home office with a cup of coffee in his hands. His brother hadn't asked for one but the gesture was always appreciated he knew. With these late hours especially he knew his brother could use it. After all there was no one who worked harder than his older brother and so there was never anyone more deserving of small gifts of affection and appreciation.

When he came into the office though, he just wasn't sure to do. Sure, he'd knocked once and quietly enough so that he knew it wasn't likely he'd be heard but there was a reason he did that! He didn't like to disturb his brother. Worse yet if the elder Kaiba was asleep at his desk a loud knock would surely wake him up. So Mokuba had trained himself to knock quietly and then let himself in. After these few months he was starting to rethink this strategy.

First a quiet knock, waiting, and then he entered the room. The sound of giggling and most certainly female voices filtered in once he cracked the door open. Once he actually stepped into the room? He noticed a colorful flash on the TV before Kaiba raised his arm abruptly and the channel was changed to some boring story on the news. Last week it had been jerked over to the stock exchange channel and Kaiba wouldn't even look at him.

Mokuba stood in the doorway, embarrassed, looking anywhere but at Seto.

"I brought... you some coffee, Nii-sama." His voice was weak, not sure what else to do.

"Thank you, Mokuba." Kaiba's response was tight and quick.

The two brothers endured another pause of long, awkward, terrible silence before Mokuba decided to pad over to the desk and place down the mug. Kaiba picked it up and downed it in one go as if that would ease this feeling. Or make Mokuba leave quicker. It wasn't that he didn't like spending time with his younger sibling but what he'd just got caught doing was ... unacceptable. The younger shouldn't have known.

Mokuba's hands wrung together behind his back before he chanced a look at his brother. "Are you busy?"

"Yes. Very." His eyes still wouldn't go towards the younger, a serious sign that something was wrong.

The boy nodded before looking away, not being able to hold a stare either. "Alright then."

"Alright." The extra commentary wasn't necessary but it was a kneejerk reaction.

Mokuba turned. "Well... goodnight, Nii-sama."

"Goodnight, Mokuba."

The youngest Kaiba found he couldn't sleep that night. It had been getting worse and worse. Tonight he tossed and turned, thinking about the horrible, embarrassing things his brother was doing- and that he'd caught the older doing it several times now. He needed to talk to someone. Anyone. Something needed to be done. But... he was sure Seto didn't want him to tell anyone about this. No matter how _**unhealthy**_ this obsession was getting. His brother never wanted help.

Mokuba had decided as his eyes finally closed. Something would be done about it tomorrow.

He'd picked a relatively quiet place. No one else needed to hear about this. And he'd picked the only person he knew he could go to. Of course it was a little awkward between these two even, what with the King of Games' relationship with his elder brother. His mind had been made up though! He was going to do this.

Yet as he saw the leather-clad-King approach however he began to shift in his spot.

Atem took notice as he came to a stop in front of the other. This couldn't be good and he was already feeling anxious himself. Mokuba asking for help with Seto? Never good. Still, the younger already seemed nervous, so he tempered his stance and his tone into something less than what he was feeling. "Is everything alright, Mokuba?" No formal greeting. There was no need for it. It would only be wasted time.

"No!" Mokuba shouted, his hands forced down to his sides in tight fists.

Atem's lips pressed into a thin line. "Can you tell me what's going on?" He tried softly. It was an arbitrary question, of course. Why would Mokuba have called him if he wasn't going to spill what was going on? Commanding him to give up the information, however, was not something he wanted to do.

A long drift of silence washed over them as Mokuba struggled to speak about what was on his mind. "My brother... Seto.. he..."

The anxious feeling welled back up a thousand times over. "Yes?"

"I think he's been watching porn!"

The world died away for just a moment as he went stock still, his face paled, eyes wide, mouth slightly agape. "Ah- ... excuse me?" He just couldn't, could not, bring himself to make that phrase work in his mind.

Mokuba looked up, his eyes glassy, a blush on his face. Atem nearly felt heat on his face as well. This was obviously a sensitive topic. "He's been doing it more and more! He stops working to do it! Every time I go into the office-"

"Do you knock?" He couldn't help but cut the younger off in question.

The boy looked away. "Yes." His answer was quiet and tinged with deception.

Atem raised an eyebrow with a less than convinced look. "Loud enough for him to hear you?"

Mokuba winced. Of course. Why should he have even bothered to lie to Atem? The other always seemed to be able to tell. "Well- it's... I try not to disturb him. It's the way I've always done things. But that's not the issue!"

"This is part of your brother's private life, Mokuba. This problem could easily be solved if you'd give him a little privacy." Not that he wanted to be anywhere near the Kaiba's private affairs. In fact he was pretty sure if Kaiba knew what he was doing and saying, the CEO would punch him in the jaw for getting involved at all.

The younger grit his teeth. "Will you listen to me? I didn't call you so you could lecture me!"

All the underpinnings of Seto's own way of thinking were built up well in the younger, Atem couldn't help but note. Still he nodded, raising his arms over his chest. "Then?"

Mokuba looked down again, biting his lip, hands clenched at his sides. "It's... porn with a lot of girls."

Atem went cold and the space around him seemed to disappear yet again. Well. That made no sense at all. And it sort of made him feel inadequate. He nearly wanted to burst out with the question _"what the hell"_ but it just didn't seem appropriate. "How do you know that?" It was just as inappropriate but his feelings were getting the better of him.

"There's always girls laughing and screeching and... it sounds like high school girls, I think. There's always bright colors on the screen before he turns it off. I never get to see."

The King of Games looked away, his own hands dropping and tightening slightly. "I will have a word with your brother, Mokuba."

Despite the trouble he knew that would bring, the younger Kaiba smiled lightly. "Thanks. I knew you'd help."

Atem was smarter than to know this had just been a desperate and unplanned call for help. Mokuba had asked him specifically for a reason, not because he was attached to the CEO but because ... the younger was counting on that this would prey on his insecurities. Damn that kid. Why'd he have to be cunning like his brother?

It was dark, easily in the A.M. when Atem showed up at Kaiba Corporation headquarters after his talk with Mokuba. There was no easy way to broach this topic. None at all. He was going to get yelled at no matter what he did. But Mokuba needed help and he'd be damned if he was going to go on knowing that Kaiba was losing his mind over teenage girls in skirts. It just ... hurt. Slightly. Not that he'd ever admit it.

The office doors were pushed open and he sauntered into the office. The brunet looked up from his computer with a soft nod to acknowledge the other man's presence before his eyes dropped back to the computer. Continuous and lightning fast keystrokes echoed throughout the room. He hadn't been expecting Atem but as long as the other wasn't climbing all over the furniture or causing a scene, he could stay. Causing a scene was exactly what he was about to do, however, as he walked the rest of the way forward and placed his palms down on the desk.

"Kaiba."

Now the keystrokes stopped momentarily. They were in private. Atem only used his family name in private when he was angry. "Tell me what I've done now so we can get it out of the way." Quick, easy, painless.

Crimson eyes narrowed. "Since when did you pick up a fancy for school aged girls?"

Kaiba blinked, actually stunned for a long minute. "...excuse me?"

"You left school. I would have thought you'd stay there if that was really what you liked looking at." His tone was dark and icy.

It left the brunet nervous but his mask was perfect and untouched- maybe except from the confusion starting to seep into his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Mokuba told me about the videos you've been watching." Right to the chase.

Seto's eyes widened, then narrowed. He stood up from the desk. "That's none of your damn business!" He snarled right in Atem's face. His chest knotted. How was he going to explain away this one?

"So the truth comes out." Atem said plainly, leaning away from the desk and tilting his head away with a forced look of disinterest. "Well if that's what you're going to do with your time I think this is over."

"_What the hell are you talking about?_" Kaiba's tone promised threat as he circled the desk and pulled Atem's wrist into the air to force the other straighter on his feet and to look at him. "What does what I watch occasionally have anything to do with us?" What was going on? How had this happened? How did this make any sense?

Atem glared up a storm at him, attempting to pull his wrist back but Kaiba's grip was like steel. He got so frustrated he finally blurted out- "If you like to watch women fucking each other I don't know what you're gaining from my company!"

Kaiba's eyes widened for the second time that night, again wearing a look of complete confusion. "What?"

The other wasn't buying it, or maybe too wound up to understand what was going on. "You heard me!"

"You think.. I've been watching..." Finally Kaiba understood. And now he started laughing as he released Atem.

The shorter growled not enjoying being laughed at so blatantly. "Yes I know of your porn watching habits, Kaiba. And so does Mokuba so you might want to cut down." After that he turned and very much so intended to stomp out of the office.

He would have if not for a heavy hand on his shoulder stopping him. Kaiba had managed to regain control of himself for five minutes. "It's not porn." Something would have to be done with Mokuba. He hadn't known that's what his brother thought it was. And he wasn't sure if letting him keep on thinking that was the lesser of two evils in this situation.

"I don't believe you!" Atem jerked away from him, hissing, completely worked up.

"It is not porn, Atem." His face revealed no hint of a lie.

It put the King of Games in a tough spot. Kaiba could have been lying, it wasn't like the other to withhold embarrassing things on occasion or lie when he was backed into a corner. But for some reason Atem wasn't getting that feeling here. His eyebrows knitted together as he still weakly glared. "Then what is it?"

Kaiba now turned away slightly, almost ready to deny him the information. It was only then that he really looked at Atem and understood why thinking it had been high school girls together had rankled the other so much. He sighed, deeply, before reaching into one of the drawers and producing a remote for the TV on the right side of the room. It was turned on, the screen blank before he went through the recorded shows. One he'd left paused in the middle was chosen and the show resumed.

Atem's head tilted to the side as he watched.

Colorful ponies were traipsing around on screen, laughing at one another and seeming like they were having a very fun time. His mouth was half open as his eyebrows continually drew upward past his blond bangs. He couldn't get it to make sense in his brain.

"I ... I don't understand..." Understatement of the century.

Kaiba sighed yet again. "It's a show called My Little Pony-"

The title flashed on screen as the cut for commercial. Atem read out the last part; "Friendship Is Magic...!" His eyes turned to Kaiba, giving him an almost aghast look.

The brunet looked away, steely eyed. "It's none of your business and I'm not explaining it. I will also talk to my brother so you can continue to keep your nose out of our private affairs. Do you understand me?"

"Seto- What- I don't..."

**FRIENDSHIP**. **IS**. **MAGIC**.

The phrase kept repeating loudly in his head as if someone were screaming it.

"You don't anything. Drop it. Do you understand me?" He glared at the other.

Atem stood still in shock.

Blue eyes rolled. "You're acting as if this is the end of the world. You can go now I have work to do." The TV was turned off as he moved back around the desk and started typing again.

The office was quiet, Atem standing there, Kaiba working, for a long while. Eventually Atem turned and walked away, the office doors shutting behind him softly. Kaiba looked up after him, slightly nervous. Then he heard a roaring laughter from the hallway. He grit his teeth, a low growl rumbling from his chest.

"_I can't breathe_!"

How dare Atem? The laughter dragged on until he heard the elevator doors close, where he was sure Atem was still laughing at his expense.

The other would pay.


End file.
